Reality
by HappySunSad
Summary: Being heroes had felt like a game until now. Until someone got hurt, bad. Donnie-centric whump! T for blood! ROTMNT universe!
1. Chapter 1

Things were suddenly _real._

" _DONNIE!"_

This was not a game anymore. This was reality.

Raphael's voice rang in his ears and for a moment, he couldn't figure out what was wrong. He was standing in front of Leon, his back to the enemy, breathing hard. Being the soft shell, he was used to hiding behind one of his brothers, because he knew he couldn't take the same kind of attacks.

But tonight, he'd seen arrows rushing at his twin and he hadn't been able to stop his body from moving. He had to protect his little brother. It wasn't a choice, it was instinct. It was family.

Besides, his tech shell should've been okay, it wasn't like it was bullets. It wasn't like arrows would be able to really hurt him, though they might've scratched the paint.

At least, that was what he'd thought, in the seconds where he'd positioned himself to deflect the arrows, keeping them from striking his younger twin. He didn't even realize something was off until he tried to look up at Leo, grin, say something about how he owed him big time. Because his breath caught in his chest, and it quickly turned into hoarse, wet coughing. Pain exploded across his back, deep in his chest, in—

The color drained from Leon's face, and Donnie brought a hand up to his lips, confused. He blinked a couple times when his fingers came away soaked in sticky red.

"No," Donnie mumbled, his eyebrows furrowing. "No, it's not—no!" He broke off in heavy coughs, his knees suddenly giving out beneath him.

As he fell forward, five arrows became visible, having broken through Donnie's tech shell. Leon's wild eyes turned on the enemy, and in a flash of light he was gone. Raph was suddenly at Don's side, though if Donnie had to be honest; he wasn't sure when Raph had moved. "S'not possible," Donnie said, his voice trembling. "It was supposed to be strong enough—"

"Easy, easy." Raph caught him as his body lurched forward, as the coughs turned into wheezes and blood painted the pavement. Don's expression was hard to read. "Mike, cover us!" Raph ordered suddenly. "Once we're underground, go get Leo!"

Mikey nodded, his eyes wide with clear panic. He was on his feet and out of Donnie's sight before he could blink. Raph looked down at Don, gently but hastily shuffling him around into his arms bridal style. "Alright, easy Don," he said gently, opening the manhole cover. "Just hang on. That's all you gotta do, you just gotta keep breathing for us okay?"

Donnie groaned quietly as Raph slid down the ladder to the sewer level. He found himself leaning into Raphs plastron, coughing up more blood. "Yeah, that's gonna be _so_ easy," he muttered, managing to find an eye roll despite the pain.

Raph started running, either not hearing or electing to ignore him. "Where do we go?" he asked, jogging.

Donnie thought on this, trying to distract himself from the tinny taste of blood in his mouth. He swallowed and realized immediately that that was a mistake. "Uh," he mumbled, trying not to gag. "Dunno…"

"You think Dad can handle it?" Raph asked, still jogging. Behind him he could hear Leo and Mike starting to catch up. But what he didn't hear was Donnie talking anymore. "Don? Oh no—"

Leo ran as hard as he could, trying to catch Raph. His heart was pounding. It had taken Mikey literally jumping in front of him to break him off his warpath, out of pursuit of the ninja.

Now he was underground with Mikey, catching up. Raph wasn't moving as fast as Leo knew he could though, he ran stiffly, cradling their brother. Probably trying not to jostle him. "HEY!" he yelled. "Where are we going? I can get us there now!" He gripped his sword, not even thinking about how it might not work for him.

Now wasn't a time to consider such a thing. It would work. It had to.

Raph skidded to a stop, and then Leo was finally able to get a look at Don. There was a lot of blood now, and there were splatters of it following Raph as he bled through the tech shell. There was blood down his front too, dribbling from his mouth. There was internal damage. Leo tried not to step back. He barely noticed Mike coming up next to him, gasping.

"I don't know," said Raph. "I don't know where we can take him. He needs like—a doctor or something!"

Leo chewed on his lip for a moment, his fingers clenched. "Do you think the mystical city would have somewhere to help him? I mean, yokai have to get hurt sometimes too, right?" Mikey asked suddenly, watching Donnie struggle to breathe. Every few seconds he'd break into coughs, bringing up more blood from damaged lungs.

Raph swallowed. "I mean," he said. "We can't go to a hospital. April can't fix him. I don't think Dad can fix him…"

Leo stepped over. "Then we're going to the mystical city and looking for a yokai doctor. It'll be closer than any human doctor can get," he said firmly. He wasn't even sure how he'd managed to keep his voice from shaking.

Raph nodded back. "Lead the way," he said.

Leo raised his sword, tearing through the air and opening a portal. He usually would've celebrated at opening a portal so easily, but as Raph rushed past him with Donnie he didn't even consider it. Mike and Leo dove in after them.

 _Please, please, let them have someone who can help him._

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Thanks for reading! This will be a multi-chapter fic, though I really don't know how long it will be or when I'll update. Reviews make me go faster, though! If you're looking for more of Fishing Wire, my DP fanfiction, I'm considering another chapter. TMNT kinda took over, but I'll see what I can do. Love yall!

-Happy


	2. Chapter 2

Run of the Mill Pizza had been quiet today. Senor Hueso had enjoyed it too, if he was being honest with himself. Pizza had been served, patrons had behaved and there had been no sign of those masked delinquents who so frequently wrecked his restaurant.

Of course, as soon as he noted this, a familiar blue portal opened up in the middle of the room and the turtles came crashing in. Though, Blue didn't look happy like he normally did, and Orange even less so. He held his tongue long enough to stop himself from saying something stupid.

Because Purple, he was trailing blood on his floor from his place in Red's arms. "What on—What are you doing bringing him here!?"

Blue motioned wildly. "We don't know enough about the city to know where to take him! But I bet you do, right? You know anyone who could help us!?" he demanded. There was something dark in his eyes that stopped Hueso from hesitating.

"Yes, yes, a healer. You want a healer, I can write down directions," he said. "There's one close by, she's probably got everything—what happened to him!?"

That was when Orange broke in. "Where do we need to go!?"

"Right! Go out into the city, go down three levels and back into the woods—"

"There are woods down here too?"

"Yes, yes, go into the woods, she's not far in. Be careful though, she…. She doesn't go out much—"

But the boys were already heading out the door before Hueso could say much more of his warning. He shrugged a bit, hoped Purple would be alright, and sighed at the mess they'd left. At least it was a slow day.

X

He was floating. Or at least, that was how it felt for the most part. There were brief jostles that sent pain through his chest, and breathing was… not good. But, it was starting to feel pretty distant, and he was feeling pretty detached.

He knew he was hurt, and some amount of his mind was panicked. Some part of him pressed to breathe quickly, to grasp at the air, to choke down as much of it as his lungs would hold, because they were leaking. They were bleeding out into his body, and he knew it.

And there was nothing he could do about it.

Raph's arms felt like lead. Don wasn't all that heavy to Raph, and yet he felt like he were carrying the weight of the world as he carefully followed Leo down the levels of the city, trying to move quietly and quickly. He knew enough to see that Don was deep in shock, but there wasn't much they could do about it now.

Leo suddenly launched off the side of the city, in a stunt that Raph could only describe as showing off if he didn't know it came of fear for his brother. A portal caught Leo and he disappeared from sight for a moment, before appearing back beside Raph.

This portal hung there, Leo's blade crackling with power. "I found it, come on guys," he said hastily. "Mike, weapon drawn. We don't know what else is in that forest."

Mikey pulled out his weapon and nodded, following Leo through so that they'd cover Raph and Don.

The forest was not like the one that Todd used to live in. Leo felt an odd energy coming off it, the trees themselves felt… imposing. The usual greens and browns were replaced by heavy blues and purples. It felt more like walking into a night sky than a forest as they stepped into the tall grass that crowded the tree trunks. There was no path.

There was no sign of a healer.

And when Raph turned around to make sure no one was behind him, the city was gone too.

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Helloooooo! Sorry for the long wait, i kinda... forgot this existed? Then I remembered, bc reviews! So thanks for reminding me haha. I will try not to let the next chapter take so long 3 Thanks for reading :D


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